How You Can Eat More And Still Lose Weight
Updated April 30, 2023
Eat less.
This is the mainstream advice all the so-called "experts" are spewing.
In reality, this is bad advice. I mean, who wants to eat less?
No one wants to feel hungry and deprived of their favorite foods while trying to slim down.
Here I’m talking about losing weight while eating more food and feeling more satisfied with your meals.
Why Eating Too Little Will Sabotage Your Weight Loss Efforts
Most people tend to take an extreme approach to weight loss by seriously reducing calories and cutting off entire food groups such as carbohydrates.
Our body adapts to this huge calorie restriction by reducing the overall amount of calories we’re burning to balance out eating fewer calories. This is a natural survival response to wanting to conserve energy.
To put it bluntly, our bodies don’t know we want to lose weight. Its job is to keep us alive and if we’re cutting back how much we’re eating we adapt and survive by burning fewer calories.
This means over time our body slows down our metabolism and burns fewer calories.
To conserve and find additional energy sources, we’ll start eating into our muscle mass because it’s energetically expensive to maintain especially if we’re not eating enough protein.
Once our metabolism slows down the rate of our weight loss slows down too.
In the end, if we reach our weight loss goal, we go back to our normal eating routine we’re storing calories as fat. The rate at which we burn calories has slowed down so that over the course of a few months or years we’ll slowly gain back the weight and be heavier than when we first started.
And it’ll be much harder to lose again the next time.
Signs You’re Not Eating Enough
You can find out if you’re not eating enough by listening to your body.
If you’re not sure how much you’re eating day-to-day we’ll cover that in the next section.
But here are five simple telltale signs that you’re eating too little.
1. Constant Hunger
Being constantly hungry and distracted by hunger means you’re not eating enough.
If you’re never hungry then you’re eating too many calories. If you’re constantly hungry then you’re eating too few calories.
The balance comes in when you’re just slightly hungry. The type of hunger where you can drink a glass of water and it’ll go away.
This type of slight hunger is the ideal balance.
When your calories drop too low your body will send insistent hunger signals that drive you to eat to avoid starvation.
2. You Cannot Sleep
Sleep deprivation has been linked to weight gain and greater difficulty falling asleep.
Two signs that you’re not eating enough are if you cannot sleep because you’re hungry or you wake up starving.
Restoring normal sleep-wake patterns is easy once you go back to eating enough calories.
3. Feeling Low On Energy
Your body needs a set number of calories to function, to stay alive, and another set of calories if you’re physically active.
In an effort to conserve calories because you’re not eating enough you will feel tired most of the time.
Eating fewer calories will cause you to lose weight but not eating enough to keep you alive will cause you to tire easily with basic everyday functions like walking or taking the stairs.
Tiredness and fatigue are common signals that your body is sending you that you’re not eating enough.
4. Constipation
When you eat less you will have less waste in your digestive tract.
To preserve energy your body will slow down the digestion of food giving you constipation.
Similarly, if you’re not eating enough fiber which is common when you’re restricting calories can also cause constipation. Constipation is defined as having fewer than three bowel movements a week.
Strict dieting and undereating can cause constipation in all age groups because of the reduced metabolic rate.
5. Mood Swings
If you’re constantly hungry, it’s not surprising that you’ll get more mood swings, more irritability at the slightest things, and less patience.
Low blood sugar from not eating enough makes it harder to concentrate and mentally focus.
Being cranky because you’re hungry can easily be reversed by eating enough calories.
How Much Is Eating Enough To Lose Weight?
The quickest way to figure this out more or less accurately is to use a calorie calculator and track your intake and measurements.
Calorie calculator. Credit: https://www.calculator.net/calorie-calculator.html
Every calorie calculator is based on a slightly different formula that takes into account your age, weight, height, body fat, lean muscle mass, and activity levels.
If you use three different calculators it will give you three different but similar answers.
NOTE: Check to see if your calculator is calculating your TDEE or your BMR which are two very different calculations.
Your BMR is basal metabolic rate. This means how many calories you are burning at rest not including activity.
TDEE is total daily energy expenditure which is your BMR calories plus accounting for your activity levels.
You want to reduce calories based on your TDEE calculation to lose weight.
The difference between BMR versus TDEE.
Here are the three different levels of calorie deficits you can make to help you lose weight,
Level 1 – Small 10 to 20% deficit
Creating a small deficit is a relatively easy change to make. Starting with small changes makes it more manageable and leads to long-term adherence to the deficit. If you are under 25% body fat a small deficit is perfect because it preserves lean muscle mass.
Level 2 - Medium 25 to 30% deficit
A medium deficit requires a slightly greater reduction in calories but produces bigger fat loss changes. This is great for keeping you motivated because you’re seeing progress and is usually recommended for women who have a body fat greater than 30%.
Level 3 - Large 40%+ deficit
A large deficit is hard to maintain and not recommended unless you are morbidly obese and under the direct care of a physician. For women, a 30% deficit in calories is the maximum amount of calories you can reduce without encountering menstrual issues down the line.
This deficit requires enormous changes in lifestyle changes to maintain to get results.
How to calculate the calorie deficit based on the different levels.
A bigger deficit doesn’t mean it’s better or you’ll get quicker results in the long term. Your goal should be sustainable weight loss.
Our weight loss expectations versus reality.
Once you have decided on a caloric deficit number then the next step is to start tracking your calorie intake and measurements.
Tracking calories and regular measurements is the only way to know if you’re using the right caloric deficit number for you and your needs.
What’s The Best Way To Maximize My Calories?
The number one reason people quit dieting is because they’re hungry.
All motivations and good intentions are out the door once hunger hits.
The approach to a successful weight loss plan is to ask yourself,
How can I eat more and be more satisfied with my food choices while still getting results?
To do that means optimizing your macros correctly with a focus on eating a high-protein diet of at least 100 grams per day.
Studies have shown that as long as you’re in a caloric deficit you will lose weight no matter if it’s a high-carb/low-fat diet or a low-carb/high-fat diet.
When it comes to adjusting your carbs and fat it doesn’t make a big difference. It all depends on your personal preference and what makes you fuller when combined with protein.
For example, with my client Karrie, we put her on a Level 1 caloric deficit of 100 calories which turned out to be 1450 calories. I gave her 2 options that she could follow, one with high carb and low fat or one with low carb and high fat, both with identical protein macros.
High carb/low fat versus a low carb/high fat macronutrient profile based on 1450 calories.
Guidelines for Types Of Foods
Weight loss isn’t about eating less food but fewer calories. You have a winning combination and meal plans if you can eat MORE food with FEWER calories.
Here are some guidelines to keep in mind,
1. Eat more whole, nutrient-dense, minimally processed foods
You’ll find that the healthier you eat the more you can eat because healthier doesn't contain lots of fats, sugars, and salt in them.
They have naturally fewer calories.
Comparing 100 grams of food with the calories for the different types of foods, processed (top foods) versus non-processed (bottom foods).
Do you think you could eat a granola’s serving worth of calories from eating broccoli?
You would need to eat 11 times more broccoli to get the same amount of calories from granola!
But eating broccoli will keep you fuller than eating a bowl of granola. You actually need to chew and break down the fiber versus the granola is already easily digested and loaded with sugar.
Choosing whole, nutrient foods that are minimally processed is great for slowing down your digestion because your body will have to digest and break down the foods keeping you fuller for longer.
Whole, nutrient foods that are minimally processed look like:
Lean proteins
Colorful fruits and vegetables
Slow-digesting, high-fiber starches such as potatoes, beans, and legumes
Nuts, seeds, and fatty fish for healthy fats
2. Slowly making food swaps to healthier choices
Take a look at your current diet.
What can you improve upon and substitute so that you eat more real, healthy foods that have fewer calories?
Swap out your protein or granola bar for a handful of nuts or a cup of high-protein yogurt.
Skip the bagel with cream cheese for breakfast and scramble up a couple of eggs with smoked salmon and add an avocado on the side.
Swap out the white rice in your takeout for a large salad and skip the bread roll.
3. Eating fewer processed, hyper-palatable foods.
We love processed foods! They are semi-addictive with few nutrients and full of calories that we don’t need.
The addictiveness of processed foods doesn’t make us feel full or satisfied when we eat them.
Instead over time, our brain overlooks our natural ‘fullness’ and ‘stop’ signals and goes directly for the dopamine feel-good reward of eating those foods.
When we follow steps 1 and 2 while being mindful of our eating, we’ll naturally crave highly processed foods less and less.
You’ll also feel fuller for longer, lose body fat and find that you’ll feel and move better too.
And the meal that is properly cooked and seasoned to your liking while enjoyed mindfully with your family is going to be more satisfying than eating drive-through food.
With the right choices, you don’t have to be hungry or feel deprived on a diet. We negatively associate losing weight with hunger, restriction, and deprivation but it doesn’t have to be that way.
I say eat more, feel satisfied, and still get results! It's about making better, more healthier choices not about eating less.
Candace is the owner of Rhodes To Strength. She provides weight loss and mindset coaching services to women around the world so that they keep the pounds off for good. She believes in working with clients to create sustainable habits that work for their lifestyle.
You can find her rollerskating, hiking, and bird watching in her spare time.